Day 1 - Seattle, WA to Skykomish, WA

Weather
Temperature: 78°F
Conditions: Clear
Wind: All over the place @ 11 mph

Ride Info
Altimeter Trip: 2,040 ft
Altimeter Odometer: 2,040 ft
Maximum Speed: 31.0 mph
Average Speed: 17.0 mph
Distance Trip: 67.5 miles
Distance Odometer: 67.5 miles
Elapsed Time: 3 hr 48 min 49 sec

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night. The excitement of the next day combined with all the people snoring made for a restless night. I was in quite a rush to get ready in the morning. It was important to get your bag all packed and to the truck and to get in line for breakfast.

First order of business was to ride to a nearby boat launch to dip out wheels in the water. It is a tradition to dip your wheels in each ocean on a transcontinental ride. There were a lot of geese hanging around the boat launch and there was a lot of goose shit all over as well. A few people learned that hard way that goose shit is slippery.

The weather was great. Temperatures started off in the lower 60s and were in the lower 70s most of the day. There was not a single cloud in the sky. We were really fortunate for having good weather during the time we were in Seattle and Washington in general.

I rode the first several miles with Paul (mid 30s) who was a Thermodynamics professor at Purdue University. After a few miles on some city streets, we made out way onto a bike path which took us right along Lake Washington and out of the city. Paul wasn’t rising as fast as I would have liked so I dropped him and caught up with a different group of riders. There was a group of about six guys and girls, all Taylor students. It didn’t take long to learn that they were all a bunch of goof balls so I dropped them and rode the rest of the way to Skykomish on my own. For some reason (maybe it was just nerves), I felt “tight” and didn’t have a very good ride that day. The last several miles were up a continuous incline, and I just couldn’t find a good rhythm.

We stayed at a K-12 school in Skykomish. The scenery was beautiful. Lots of pine trees and big, rolling hills, as you can imagine. I was one of the early arrivals. Only a handful of other riders were there before me. Even though I rode “fast”, I would still stop to take pictures and to see the sites. There was one guy, Fred, who was in his 50s who was always one of the first people to arrive; not so much because he was a fast rider, but because he never stopped. One of the benefits (I quickly learned) of arriving early is claiming space for your bed. The truck that carried everybody’s bags typically followed behind the last rider. When the truck arrived at base camp, some of us would help unload bags so everyone could settle in. Being one of the first to arrive also meant being one of the first to take a shower. Schools were the best places to stay because they had great facilities (showers, telephones, ample space to spread out).

People talked to each other and described how their first day went (who got flat tires, who got lost, etc…) during the time before dinner. One high school aged rider had an accident on the bike path and ran into a post. He broke his frame, and his bike was unrideable. Fortunately, WW has a couple spare bikes so he rode one of those the rest of the way to our destination. I was amazed that people were still rolling in at 6:00 when dinner was about to be served. I don’t know if they were really slow or stopped to smell every single rose along the way.

Everyone was really psyched/scared for the next day’s ride. It involved going over Stevens Pass which is pretty long and steep. I was super-psyched because I think I’m a really good climber. I was a bit concerned though because temperatures were only going to be in the 40s early in the morning.